diff --git a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
index bce0ab5c27f..f86a22f07f8 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
+++ b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
@@ -156,6 +156,28 @@ struct Serialization
     return true;
   }
 
+  template <typename SerializableType>
+  static std::vector<std::uint8_t> toArchiveBinaryData(const SerializableType& archive_type,
+                                                       const std::string& name = "")
+  {
+    std::stringstream ss;
+    {  // Must be scoped because all data is not written until the oost::archive::xml_oarchive goes out of scope
+      boost::archive::xml_oarchive oa(ss);
+
+      // Boost uses the same function for serialization and deserialization so it requires a non-const reference
+      // Because we are only serializing here it is safe to cast away const
+      if (name.empty())
+        oa << boost::serialization::make_nvp<SerializableType>("archive_type",
+                                                               const_cast<SerializableType&>(archive_type));  // NOLINT
+      else
+        oa << boost::serialization::make_nvp<SerializableType>(name.c_str(),
+                                                               const_cast<SerializableType&>(archive_type));  // NOLINT
+    }
+
+    std::string data = ss.str();
+    return std::vector<std::uint8_t>(data.begin(), data.end());
+  }
+
   template <typename SerializableType>
   static SerializableType fromArchiveStringXML(const std::string& archive_xml)
   {
@@ -199,6 +221,21 @@ struct Serialization
 
     return archive_type;
   }
+
+  template <typename SerializableType>
+  static SerializableType fromArchiveBinaryData(const std::vector<std::uint8_t>& archive_binary)
+  {
+    SerializableType archive_type;
+
+    {  // Must be scoped because all data is not written until the oost::archive::xml_oarchive goes out of scope
+      std::stringstream ss;
+      std::copy(archive_binary.begin(), archive_binary.end(), std::ostreambuf_iterator<char>(ss));
+      boost::archive::xml_iarchive ia(ss);
+      ia >> BOOST_SERIALIZATION_NVP(archive_type);
+    }
+
+    return archive_type;
+  }
 };
 }  // namespace tesseract_common
 #endif  // TESSERACT_COMMON_SERIALIZATION_H
diff --git a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/unit_test_utils.h b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/unit_test_utils.h
index 79fbcaf6b0d..5b1d2a5ac48 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/unit_test_utils.h
+++ b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/unit_test_utils.h
@@ -70,6 +70,15 @@ void testSerialization(const SerializableType& object, const std::string& typena
     SerializableType nobject{ tesseract_common::Serialization::fromArchiveStringXML<SerializableType>(object_string) };
     EXPECT_FALSE(object != nobject);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
   }
+
+  {  // Archive program to binary data
+    std::vector<std::uint8_t> object_data =
+        tesseract_common::Serialization::toArchiveBinaryData<SerializableType>(object, typename_string);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(object_data.empty());
+
+    SerializableType nobject{ tesseract_common::Serialization::fromArchiveBinaryData<SerializableType>(object_data) };
+    EXPECT_FALSE(object != nobject);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -109,6 +118,17 @@ void testSerializationPtr(const std::shared_ptr<SerializableType>& object, const
         tesseract_common::Serialization::fromArchiveStringXML<std::shared_ptr<SerializableType>>(object_string);
     EXPECT_FALSE(*object != *nobject);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
   }
+
+  {  // Archive program to binary data
+    std::vector<std::uint8_t> object_data =
+        tesseract_common::Serialization::toArchiveBinaryData<std::shared_ptr<SerializableType>>(object,
+                                                                                                typename_string);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(object_data.empty());
+
+    auto nobject =
+        tesseract_common::Serialization::fromArchiveBinaryData<std::shared_ptr<SerializableType>>(object_data);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(*object != *nobject);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -161,6 +181,20 @@ void testSerializationDerivedClass(const std::shared_ptr<SerializableTypeBase>&
     auto object_derived = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<SerializableTypeDerived>(object);
     EXPECT_FALSE(*object_derived != *nobject_derived);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
   }
+
+  {  // Archive program to binary data
+    std::vector<std::uint8_t> object_data =
+        tesseract_common::Serialization::toArchiveBinaryData<std::shared_ptr<SerializableTypeBase>>(object,
+                                                                                                    typename_string);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(object_data.empty());
+
+    auto nobject =
+        tesseract_common::Serialization::fromArchiveBinaryData<std::shared_ptr<SerializableTypeBase>>(object_data);
+    auto nobject_derived = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<SerializableTypeDerived>(nobject);
+
+    auto object_derived = std::dynamic_pointer_cast<SerializableTypeDerived>(object);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(*object_derived != *nobject_derived);  // Using != because it call == for code coverage
+  }
 }
 }  // namespace tesseract_common
 #endif  // TESSERACT_COMMON_UTILS_H